As one of the players who helps out in the tech forums I get lots of general questions and with the new players coming in everytime there is a trial-key give away, I thought I might share my accumulated knowledge of The Matrix Online with those that are new to the experience.
Here is a response I wrote to a PM sent to me by a particular player. It had some answers to some fairly basic questions and I thought it may be of assistance to some other players. Hence I have posted it here.
If anyone notices any errors or omissions feel free to correct me 
I'm not the only player that's been around since launch and I'm certainly no PvP champion (I have a total of 40 CQ points... I think) all I can do is my best.
So feel free to ask any and all questions you have about MxO or the Matrix franchise in general and I'll see what I can do to help. Remember: There are no stupid questions... Just stupid people 
j/k 
And now, on with the show!
Hey **********************.
I'll try to help you as best I can.
yo i cant post in forums,
Posting is restricted based on your level and total number of posts/amount of time since registration.
There were some people signing up free accounts and spamming the crap out of the boards so it was locked down.
There is a bug, however, that causes some accounts to get stuck on a lesser ranking. PM Walrus or Raijin about it and they can fix that for you.
wassup with them nerfing hacker
In CR1 Hacker was waaay overpowered. As a level 38 I could beat 2 level 50s. Now it's actually very well balanced. If you want to succeed in your battles though you will need to make your viral accuracy as high as possible with your stats and clothing. Then work on your Ballistic defence. If you get interlocked by an MA, roll out and run as they WILL cream you. Hacker is very much a ranged class.
and making hyper deflect on contantly while other hypers dont?
The "Hyper" abilities are paired HyperDodge & HyperBlock, HyperDeflect & Hyper Sense. That way you can have boosted defence against one physical and one code (knives are considered hack attacks because they don't damage on their own, only with special attacks) attack at any time.
Keep in mind that, the temporary effect bonuses linked to the "Hyper" buffs don't require the other buffs to turn off. So you can have HyperSense on to generally block knife attacks, and then use "Clear Mind" to give you a temporary boost to your viral defence if a hacker starts attacking you. Nothing saves your backside from an ambush like a quick finger on the balistic defence bonuses.
As a hacker you will do well against knife throwers and gunmen, although it is more of a support class (like doctor). A good team strategy is to send gunmen and Martial Artists to the front of the pack and hang back with the Knife Throwers and Hackers as the combination of the 2 groups allows you to break any defensive load strategy.
phi an intresting name why did you choose it?
Well I've answered this before so I'll keep it short.
The first 3 letters of my Surname are "phi" so that's why I first chose them.
Some of the reasons I stuck with it are:
- The greek letter "phi" is an O with an I through it, and seeing as the Matrix is a computer simulated world written in 0 and 1 it worked well. phi is both 0 and 1 and yet it is neither, it is it's own entity.
- I'm also a programmer and systems admin in the real, so a combination of hardware and software is what I specialise in. Hardware and software making up a harmonius whole "system" worth more than the sum of it's parts.
- There are countless other examples of this opposite-complimentary duality in my life as well as the matrix. It even fits well with the asian culture of International and the concept of Yin-Yang. Balance, Karma, Chaos, programming, and more. All these concepts rely on the aparently universal truth of "when you look at the details it is infinately complex, but when you look at reality as a whole there is light and dark, the yin and yang, good an bad. Everything is clearly defined, yet nothing is pure, working independantly in opposite directions... but always in harmony and balance. (I could write a book on the topic I reckon.)
- In mathematics the Greek letter Phi (the capital version) has the value 1.61803399 associated with it, lesser known and used is phi (the lower case version) that has the value 0.6180399. that's why I spell it "phi" not "Phi" as phi is a value between 1 and 0 and represents the natural or "golden" ratio. There is 1 and 0 in the machine world and somewhere in between is phi... nature's favorite number.
If you're looking for me on Recursion, It's phiAU (the AU is for AUstralia) as phi was not available (don't know who took it but it's been reserved since Beta and I've NEVER seen anyone jack-in with that handle). I'd gladly pay for my RSI's name to be changed to just phi but... well that service doesn't exist.
